What do video games, nautilus machines, pornography, and treadmills all have in common? They’re all substitutes for doing the real thing. The real thing takes more time and effort and might be harder, but it’s also healthier and more epic.

Men turn toward pornography because cultivating intimacy with their wife takes effort. You have to invest yourself in her day. You have to work for it. But the result is out of this world.

We turn toward indoor workouts with machines because carrying sandbags up a hill or running in the snow is too hard. But isn’t that the point of workouts - to be difficult?

If your kid enjoys those first-person shooter video games, take them to an actual shooting range and teach them how to shoot a real .22 caliber rifle. It’s real. There’s a smell of gunpowder. It’s incredible. Instead of Wii boxing, go get boxing gloves and headgear and let them practice their jab and cross with you. It’s bonding and exhilarating.

Don’t settle for a simulated version of life on your computer. There’s no substitute for a peak experience, but you have to climb the mountain to get it.